Of the six drivers of your personal brand….CONTINUE READING
, purpose is the one that people can sometimes struggle to define. And it makes sense. Purpose is big.
It’s your why—your reason for being. It’s your life mission. It can be hard to identify because it’s not the kind of thing most of us walk around thinking about every day. We’re usually more focused on the mundane things in life, crossing things off our Do-lists, focusing on the tasks at hand and hoping to accomplish everything we have set out to do. All that doing gives you little time to think about what you are here on earth to contribute.
Inspirational author Simon Sinek
says most people are clear about what they do, and often they’re also clear about how they do it, but it’s only the truly inspired professionals who are clear aboutwhythey do it.
Knowing you purpose is important. In fact, it is critical to reaching your fullest potential leading a meaning life. You can think of your purpose as your north star, helping you navigate the decisions that will either steer you off course or put the wind on your sails.
Of course, the events of the past few years have given us permission to focus on finding purpose more than we did before the pandemic. In fact, according a McKinsey study
, nearly two-thirds of US-based employees surveyed said that COVID-19 has caused them to reflect on their purpose in life. And 70 percent of employees said that their sense of purpose is defined by their work.
Are you feeling that no matter how much effort you put in, you aren’t being acknowledged or feeling fulfilled?
The great news is that when you are clear about your purpose and all that you do to fulfill that purpose, even the mundane or trivial tasks in your day have intrinsic meaning because you can connect them to pursuing your life mission.
In the triangle that is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, your purpose is the peak of the triangle. Maslow calls it self-actualization. The growth of self-actualization
refers to the need for personal growth and discovery. This need is present throughout your life. In self-actualization, you find a meaning to life that is important to you. According to Maslow, it’s the “desire to become everything one is capable of becoming.”
To identify your purpose:
Go with your gut.
Pay attention to what’s going on in life. Check in with yourself to see how work’s daily tasks make you feel. Consider these questions:
Identify your world problem.
What problem in the world would you love to eliminate? When you think about something big and lofty and hard to solve on your own that at the same time is important to you, you are on track to define your purpose.
Micro-journal.
At the end of each day, document one thing you learned about yourself that day. It need not be profound, just honest. Then after you have done this for a month or so, look back at your responses. What themes emerge?
Purpose is big. Defining yours could take some time. And that’s OK. The effort you expend in defining your purpose is often proportional to its importance in achieving self-actualization and living a life of meaning.
In the next installment of this personal brand discovery series
, we’ll discuss goals and their importance to your ability to fulfill your purpose.
William Arruda is a keynote speaker, co-founder of CareerBlast.TV and co-creator of the Personal Brand Power Audit- a complimentary quiz that helps you measure the strength of personal brand….CONTINUE READING